A Beary Happy 5th Birthday

For some reason, placing candles is a
really big deal. She put all of them
except one in the slice she'd designated
for herself, and the other she put in the
slice, on the opposite side of the cake,
that was designated for Kalina.

For Elise, every birthday is the culmination of exercises in patience and planning. Patience because she's had to watch everyone else in her family celebrate their birthdays before hers, and planning because she has all summer (or year) to dream up the most amazing, most fantastic, most magical birthday ever, and try to convince Mommy to let her pack in as much fun (and sugar) as possible:
"Mommy, for my birthday I only want foods that I like, and sugar."

For months, Elise worked on her birthday plan:
"A bubble party!"
"A bead party, and I'll pick out beads for everyone to take home!"
"A fairy party!"
"A princess party!"
"A dinosaur party!"
"An underwater fairy party!" (This is what we did last year)
"A mermaid party!"
"A rainbow party!"

Check out the rainbow cake!

"A treats party!"
"A craft party!"
"A marble party, and we'll have marble cake!"
"Mommy, let's go to the beach on my birthday!"
"Mommy, can we go to the beach for my birthday?"
"Mommy, for my birthday I want to get in the car, drive to the beach, collect shells, and then drive home for supper."
"I want to go to the zoo for my birthday!"
"Can we go on vacation for my birthday?"
"I want a pinata for my birthday!
"Can I have a pony for my birthday?"

Elise certainly knows how to dream big. How do you let a nearly 5-year-old down and limit her to a birthday that requires neither a princess's budget nor a time machine? Fortunately, Elise is a reasonable girl of a usually cheerful disposition, so for a full three weeks before the big day she steadily looked forward to a birthday trip to Build-a-Bear and the Sugar Shack, on the condition that her sisters get to participate, too. This was a plan that would make everyone happy.

Kalina put lots of love into her card for
Elise. It even has two flaps. Here,
she's showing Elise how it works.

Upon waking up birthday morning, Elise noticed with some delight that she could do a new trick that she probably couldn't do when she was 4! Standing on her knees, with her feet in the air! I'm not certain she'd ever tried this particular stunt before, but the important thing is, Elise felt bigger. [Technically, since the time was 7:00, she would still be 4 for two and a half more hours, but I wasn't about to burst a birthday girl's bubble by telling her that.]

And so began a rather epic birthday, which Elise described the other day by saying, "we were doing something every minute." Or in Mommy's case, every second.

Every good birthday begins with birthday cereal, and this one was no exception. Out came the Lucky Charms, and fortunately Naomi got half a bowl of Raisin Bran in her before realizing her sisters were eating something a little more colorful. It's not a party unless everyone celebrates, so naturally Naomi got to join the fun. To her credit, I think she actually tried one of the brown pieces!

The freshly stuffed Build-A-Bears get
a bath.

Kalina had very sweetly and very carefully chosen three presents for Elise, and in true Kalina (and increasingly Elise) style, insisted that Elise not open them all in one sitting. Elise opened one (a Perler bead set--super exciting!), and then one from Daddy--a disco ball that is soooo not him, but soooo Elise.

All three girls helped make Elise's tie-dye rainbow birthday cake before it was time to get ready for her Dayspring classes--homeschool enrichment that she, fortunately, loves. We packed along some treats for her to hand out, and pinned a "Birthday Girl" button on the fancy Easter dress she'd chosen to wear. With any luck, people would be wishing sweet Elise a happy day all day long.

Build-a-Birthday!

After dropping the bigs off, Naomi and I dashed home to a mountain of dishes and some birthday decorating. And after pickup we all headed to our local Build-A-Bear for the big event. Fortunately, a weary mom with birthday-party money to spend can count on a big event from Build-A-Bear, no appointment required. Elise is decisive in nature and had pre-planned the bear she hoped to find: something rainbowy, and definitely a bear. Fortunately, they had such a bear in stock. As birthday girl, she also got to pick the fanciest outfit and do everything first. She was on cloud nine. Even Naomi participated as the girls picked animals (2 dogs in addition to the a rainbow bear), readied the signature stuffed heart, watched them get stuffed, bathed them, clothed them and created a gift certificate. It's quite the production, but just what we were hoping for.

Our next stop was intended to be the Sugar Shack about 15 minutes away, but the Cinnabon in the mall caught our eye first. Not quite as sweet as the Sugar Shack, but worth it for the convenience, considering we still had a birthday dinner with Grandpa to get to, we headed in. The girls relished some Cinnabons and shared a smoothie (don't tell Elise, but I think Naomi got the lion's share), and then we squeezed into the van with our new friends and arrived home with time for another present from Kalina: more Perler beads! Elise also helped decorate her bright-blue cake with m&ms, sprinkles and marshmallows to perfection.

Grandpa arrived and soon we were all enjoying a birthday meal of macaroni and cheese and hot dogs, followed by a cake that seemed to glow even before the candles were lit. Elise had already marked off her piece, and it was the biggest one--fortunately, she had the sense to save some for the next day (it really was quite big).

After opening the rest of the presents, sometimes only seconds before Naomi beat her to it, Elise was too tired to even hop on the new unicorn pre-pogo stick Grandpa had given her. We quickly headed to bed so that she could rest up and hop to her heart's delight the next morning (which she did).

Elise wanted everyone to know that she hasn't really even stopped playing since her birthday, she's having so much fun. It truly was a lovely birthday, and the perfect kickoff for all that Elise's 5-year-old year holds for her.

Naomi really wants to get at
those presents.

The other day Elise was complaining that Kalina had called her cute. "I don't want to be cute!" she insisted. What did she want to be, I wondered? We pawed through quite a few adjectives until we found one she liked: sweet. Whether it's because she adores sugar or because her good humor sweetens everyone's day, Elise's sweetness constantly shines through.

I might add words like spunky, mischievous, smart, caring and--get this--steady. Elise appreciates rules, and she likes plans. She likes to follow them, and she often prefers other people do, too. Case in point: every time we read Curious George, Elise covers her eyes and squeals a tortured squeal because she can't stand what she knows is going to happen next. Curious George's antics stress Elise out. "I wish I hadn't picked this book!" she said of Curious George Takes a Job. Fortunately, George redeemed himself in the end, as always, so we didn't have to read a different story right after to ward off nightmares.

Elise's love of rules even surpasses her love of treats, to the point that I'm usually able to leave cookies in the cookie jar, so to speak, without a thought about anyone snitching them (except possibly Matt, but he's allowed to). At the same time, she's not above playing with the light switch while I'm trying to put Naomi down for a nap, for example.

Elise has been asking for
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
for a long time. Grandpa
totally came through, and now
the older girls are absorbed
in this simple alphabet book.
Even Naomi can quote it.

The girl is definitely tuned-in, remembering facts (and treats) and experiences (and treats) from years past. She keeps up with Kalina in much of their schoolwork, and is catching onto reading quickly, albeit not instinctively. Elise gets frustrated by things she can't do as well as she'd like to (drawing and writing), but calms down enough to try again.

Elise takes her little sister's disturbances in stride, and helpfully watches out for Naomi's safety and well-being despite often being the target of the toddler's violent phases (which we'll hopefully be done with soon, poor Elise!). It doesn't take much for Naomi to wriggle into her middle sister's good graces, either--soft-hearted Elise can often be convinced to help Naomi with challenging tasks or mother her through new situations like Sunday school. "I played with Naomi the whole time!" she said of last time. People constantly tell me how sweet my girls are to each other.

Elise's dearest wish, other than going to the beach, is to catch a fairy. She loves to craft, dance and sing/hum and do tricks, and she loves bite-sized chunks of mischief, although she can't endure anything that she knows could land her in serious trouble. In her various classes she's always the first to volunteer, whether for singing aloud or somersaulting, and despite her hope to be the center of attention, generally is able to restrain herself from seizing opportunities to do so that might not be the most helpful to her teacher or her mommy.

Matching shirts from Grandma! Naomi
lit up like a birthday candle when she
was finally allowed to open something!

She nibbles her treats like a mouse and still likes to eat with her fingers, but she's more and more able to hold up well on hikes, survive  a late bedtime and make new friends

You wouldn't think that our fun-loving, smiling girl would have a serious side, but she does. Just listen to her "important" voice for a minute or two, and you'll see that she takes a lot of things seriously--shells, beads, marbles (she loves tiny things), treats, elaborate plans to trap fairies, possibilities for beach trips and many, many, many other Very Important things.

The 5-year-old is still our beloved excited, enthusiastic girl, emphatically announcing events in her day, and sometimes regaling them to the tiniest detail. She has lots of great ideas, big and small. The other day she said she would like to be someone who asks rich people to give money to poor people, and I'm pretty sure she'd have them opening their wallets with giant grins on their faces. When it comes to convincing, Elise can be stubbornly sweet, making you want to give in. "As long as you've got your purse out to buy that coffee, why don't you just write me a check for $300,000 for a garden for an underprivileged children's hospital? That way, you can save time because you will already have your purse out, and the kids can be in the garden faster." *Elise smile* *pulling out checkbook*

Me and my birthday girl!

Elise can scooter well, ride with training wheels, put her face in the water, run through a sprinkler without freaking out, shower with only a little help, write her name pretty well, tell a cohesive (and highly detailed!) story, tell you what a preposition is, sing lots of songs, ask really good questions about things beyond her years, recite Psalm 23 with only a little help, work the CD player, read at least 20-25 sight words and sound out plenty of others, somersault, add one-digit numbers either from memory or with counting bears, ask nicely rather than whine at least most of the time, pump herself on the swing for at least a minute or two, reel in a fish with only a little help, blow up balloons, pick up Kalina, stay quiet when she needs to, understand that Naomi is only 2, remember good manners sometimes better than anyone else in the family, not interrupt, play games with other kids, make jokes, and do many tricks and reach many things that seem new to her every day. Elise still sleeps on top of Soft Blankie, on top of her bed, and she thinks she has some loose teeth (and she might, even if just from pushing on them hard enough). She identifies more with older kids than younger kids, but is so pleasant no one minds including her. Elise can happily play outside by herself, but prefers company to talk to. She's still working on speech, drawing and tying shoes, and is also excited to add piano to her list of skills in the coming year.

She still thinks Pink Bear is magical, and Pink Bear still is.

Happy birthday, sweet Elise!!